After the completion of this course unit students are able: - to explain and contrast the dominant intellectual traditions and paradigms in media studies concerning the content of media as ‘texts’ based on the assigned literature, lectures and seminars; - to describe the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of the approaches that are discussed in the assigned literature; - to describe and explain the impact and effect of political and economic systems and socio-cultural influences on media content based on the assigned literature, lectures and seminars; - to illustrate theoretical concepts through ‘real world’ examples of media in class discussions.

Omschrijving

Together with its follow-up Introduction to Media Studies II, this course unit introduces students to the dominant analytic frameworks that have been developed over the years in the discipline of media studies. While other courses in the programme up to this point have introduced students to some of the key characteristics of media platforms, industries and media’s impact on society and culture, this course now moves on to look at the ways media is researched and theorized. Three pillars of media research – content, production, and audiences – are the focus of most studies within the field and this course unit concentrates on the first of these (note that p. Media content is important as we are surrounded by it everyday, whether it is news reports, television programs, films or YouTube clips. Many of the ways we understand each other, and the broader world around us, is through our interaction with and understanding of this media content. In this course, students will learn to consider media content in greater detail, beginning with using academic concepts to explore how media produce meaning and represent different aspects of society and culture. From there, the course introduces broader notions such as “ideology” and “discourse” that help us understand how media content is shaped by (and helps produce) power relations in society. Finally, this relationship between media and power is further explored by introducing “postmodern” approaches to media that ask whether the meanings they produce are stable. While lectures introduce students to these dominant theoretical approaches, the seminars provide the opportunity for students apply these concepts through exercises analysing contemporary examples of media content. The seminars also allow students to apply the skills learned in the course Academic Skills to the field of media studies through a short literature review.